Unless otherwise indicated herein, approaches described in this section are not prior art to the claims listed below and are not admitted as prior art by inclusion in this section.
There are various well-developed and well-defined cellular communications technologies in telecommunications that enable wireless communications using mobile terminals, or user equipment (UE). For example, the Global System for Mobile communications (GSM) is a well-defined and commonly used communications system, which uses time division multiple access (TDMA) technology, which is a multiplex access scheme for digital radio, to send voice, video, data, and signaling information (such as a dialed telephone number) between mobile phones and cell sites. The CDMA2000 is a hybrid mobile communications 2.5G/3G (generation) technology standard that uses code division multiple access (CDMA) technology. The UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) is a 3G mobile communications system, which provides an enhanced range of multimedia services over the GSM system. The Long-Term Evolution (LTE), as well as its derivatives such as LTE-Advanced and LTE-Advanced Pro, is a standard for high-speed wireless communication for mobile phones and data terminals. In these communication technologies, UEs are operated by human users and may be frequently charged.
In coming next generation communication technologies such as 5G, Internet of Things (IoT) or Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT), more and more devices will be deployed as a machine type apparatus such as an immobile or a stationary apparatus, a home apparatus, an infrastructure apparatus or a monitoring apparatus. These NB-IoT apparatus may need to be in operation for long time without large battery or frequent charging. When the NB-IoT apparatus is configured to periodically report data, it will consume significant power consumption. If the NB-IoT apparatus keep reporting data without power saving mechanism, it may run out of battery in a short time.
Accordingly, when a NB-IoT apparatus is configured to periodically transmit uplink data, power consumption will be an important issue for the NB-IoT apparatus. Therefore, it is needed to provide a power saving mechanism for the NB-IoT apparatus to reduce uplink power consumption.